THE vietnam years and social changes/ 60s&70s
Richard Nixon
- President during the Vietnam war
- In presidency when the Vietnam war ended
- About a third of the Americans who died in combat were killed during the Nixon presidency.
- Nixon attempted to end the war "Peace with honor" using the policy of Vietnamization
- Vietnamization
- A policy of training that South Vietnamese forces (ARVN) to take over to fight for themselves after the U.S. left the war
Ho Chi Minh
- Communist leader of North Vietnam
- Established the Indochinese Communist Party
- Created the Vietminh (Vietcong) to expel foreign powers
Geneva Accords:
- July 1954
- U.S., Great Britain, France Soviet Union, China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam
- A peace agreement between the anticommunists and Ho Chi Minh
- Split Vietnam along the 17th parallel
MAJOR EVENT/CHANGE IN THIS ERA- Tonkin Gulf Resolution:
- LBJ asks for "all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the U.S"
- August 7th, 1964 - Congress approves LBJ's request
- Gives full control over military powers in Vietnam
- Not a declaration of war, but North Vietnam saw it as one
- Unlimited funding given to support our troops
MAJOR EVENT/CHANGE IN THIS ERA: Tet Offensive
Doves and Hawks
- The massive North Vietnamese surprise attack during the 1968 Tet holiday
- Crucial turning point in the war
- Johnson administration had been claiming that the end of the war was in sight; now, it was clear a long struggle still lay ahead
- After the Tet Offensive, President Johnson declared that he was limiting the bombing of North Vietnam to the area below the 20th parallel (thus sparing 90 percent of Communist territory) and calling for negotiations to end the war.
- Public opinion in the U.S. about the war turns dramatically down
Doves and Hawks
- Hawks - Americans should increase the military power to end Vietnam
- Doves - Opposed the war and felt the U.S. should back out
MAJOR EVENT/CHANGE IN THIS ERA - War Powers Act
- Limited power to the President
- President must ask Congress before putting troops in war zones
- Important change because now the President could not make war decisions on his own
Roe v Wade
- Decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion
Hippie Movement
Protests during the Hippie Movement promoted peace and drugs, instead of going to war.
MAJOR EVENT/CHANGE IN THIS ERA: Counterculture Movement (Hippie Movement):
- Characteristics of the movement: drugs, spirituality, living together, no school
- The movement changed the social norms of the time
- Eventually the movement ended after the group ran out of money, overdosed, and/or the drugs became illegal